The instrument manufacturers group, Eucomed, has joined forces with patients and medical associations to warn that reuse of such devices poses a threat to the health and safety of patients and healthcare workers.

They want the EU to regulate all reprocessing of single-use devices (SUDs) in a bid to cut hospital-acquired infections that kill tens of thousands of patients every year, including up to 40,000 in Germany alone.

Eucomed believes that the only sure method of avoiding the risk of transmitting deadly diseases such as variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (v-CJD), the fatal brain condition linked to mad cow disease, is to prevent the reuse of SUDs.

Although member states such as France, Italy and Spain have specific legislation against this, current EU rules do not apply to the use of recycled instruments leaving the Commission with limited powers of intervention.

The joint manifesto argues that reuse of SUDs is widespread throughout the EU and that hospitals often use arguments such as budgetary constraints or reduction of waste to justify recycling. Eucomed points out that such reuse was not foreseen by manufacturers and therefore has legal implications.

The manifesto states that “anyone who reprocesses or reuses a device intended by the manufacturer for use on a single occasion, bears full responsibility for its safety and effectiveness”.